Spacecraft antenna pointing
Two degree of freedom spacecraft antenna pointing system evaluation based on geometry, attitude drift errors, and sensor error signal methods of correcting antenna position for attitude drift
ERROR SIGNAL↗
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A strapdown star tracker for space vehicle attitude control.
Strapdown star tracker for space vehicle attitude control, using scanning and error-signal determination method
SATELLITE ATTITUDE CONTROL↗
Digital servo controller
A system, for generating a signal to control the rotation of a shaft supporting an antenna so that the antenna is rotated the shortest angular distance from a present angular position to a new desired angular position, was described. The system comprises a shaft encoder which generates a digital encoder signal indicating the present position of the shaft. A command signal is compared with the encoder signal to produce an analog signal for rotating the antenna. An error signal is produced for controlling the direction of rotation of the antenna.
Byrne, F.↗
Method of and means for testing a tape record/playback system
A tape record/playback system was tested by first deriving an analog test signal and a band-limited digital reference signal from a pseudo-noise sequence generator driven by a clock signal. It recorded the signals on respective tracks of the system during operation in a record mode. During the playback mode of operation of the system, a delayed analog reference signal without time base variations was reconstructed from the played back reference signal. It was compared with the played back test signal in order to obtain an error signal that was a measure of the performance of the system.
Wallace, G. R.↗
Image motion compensation on the Spacelab 2 Solar Optical Universal Polarimeter /SL2 SOUP/
The SOUP experiment on Spacelab 2 includes a 30 cm visible light telescope and focal plane package mounted on the Instrument Pointing System (IPS). Scientific goals of the experiment dictate pointing stability requirements of less than 0.05 arcsecond jitter over periods of 5-20 seconds. Quantitative derivations of these requirements from two different aspects are presented: (1) avoidance of motion blurring of diffraction-limited images; (2) precise coalignment of consecutive frames to allow measurement of small image differences. To achieve this stability, a fine guider system capable of removing residual jitter of the IPS and image motions generated on the IPS cruciform instrument support structure has been constructed. This system uses solar limb detectors in the prime focal plane to derive an error signal. Image motion due to pointing errors is compensated by the agile secondary mirror mounted on piezoelectric transducers, controlled by a closed-loop servo system.
Tarbell, T. D.↗
Sub-Nyquist Distortions in Sampled One- and Two-Dimensional Signals Studied
Hardware testing frequently involves the acquisition of waveform and instrumentation signals, which are often recorded on waveform recorders, oscillographs, and video recorders. Years ago, the waveforms were viewed as analog records, as drawn by a paper strip chart pen or electron beam on a cathode ray tube screen. One of the problems in the past was that the analog electronics may not have been able to accurately display the full amplitude of a signal if the real-time signals exceeded the frequency response bandwidth of the recording device. The advent of digital oscilloscopes, waveform recorders, and video frame-grabbers solved many of the frequency response problems, though not all. A restriction on digital waveform acquisition is well known by people in the instrumentation field. Put simply, the sampling frequency must be at least twice the frequency of any signal to be sampled, or vice versa; the signals must be filtered so that none of the signal frequencies are higher than one-half the sample rate (the Nyquist Limit). Then, per Shannon's Sampling Theorem (1949, ref. 1), any sampled signal can be reconstructed for viewing on a display device. If any signals exceed the Nyquist frequency limit, error signals called aliases occur in the output display.
Williams, Glenn L.↗
The analysis and calibration of analog to digital encoders
Error signal analysis and calibration of analog to digital encoders
ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER↗
An extension of the quickened display for manual control
It is very difficult (or even impossible) for a human to control plants of third order or more with little or no damping by just knowing the instantaneous error. It has been shown that adding first and/or higher order derivatives to the error signal and displaying the combined signal are effective in facilitating human control over such plants. This signal quickening technique by Birmingham and Taylor is further extended to incorporate the future trajectory variation into the displayed signal so as to minimize the tracking error. A method for tuning free parameters in ordinary and extended quickening is established by applying discrete-time optimal control. Experimental results for a triple integrator plant indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method to achieve high quality tracking.
Tomizuka, M.↗
Some statistical analysis techniques for the effect of systematic instrument errors on the results of measurements in a space experiment
Mathematical models of certain systematic telemetry signal errors arising during the passage of the signal through the recording and transmitting blocks of the physical instruments aboard the spacecraft are classified and constructed. Statistical analysis methods are used to determine the background function and relative sensitivity coefficients of the channels of a charged particle detector. Results are presented. A block diagram for a method taking into account the effect of distortions is given.
Kondakov, S. P.↗
Satellite Attitude Control Using a Combination of Inertia Wheels and a Bar Magnet
The use of inertia wheels to control the attitude of a satellite has currently aroused much interest. The stability of such a system has been studied in this investigation. A single-degree-of-freedom analysis indicates that a response with suitable dynamic characteristics and precise control can be achieved by commanding the angular velocity of the inertia wheel with an error signal that is the sum of the attitude error, the attitude rate, and the integral of the attitude error. A digital computer was used to study the three-degree-of-freedom response to step displacements, and the results indicate that the cross-coupling effects of inertia coupling and precession coupling had no effect on system stability. A study was also made of the use of a bar magnet to supplement the inertia wheels by providing a means of removing any momentum introduced into the system by disturbances such as aerodynamic torques. A study of a case with large aerodynamic torques, with a typical orbit, indicated that the magnet was a suitable device for supplying the essential trimming force. Single-degree-of-freedom bench tests generally verified the dynamic response predicted by the analytical study. the test table to within plus or minus 9 arc-seconds of the reference direction, even though the hardware components that were used in these tests were not specifically designed for the control system.
Adams, James J.↗
Improved servocontrol system
System combines error signal with output of deadband circuit, which offsets any decrease in gain of error circuit for rapid changes in input signal.
Buchanan, E. C.↗
Servo-controlled intravital microscope system
A microscope system is described for viewing an area of a living body tissue that is rapidly moving, by maintaining the same area in the field-of-view and in focus. A focus sensing portion of the system includes two video cameras at which the viewed image is projected, one camera being slightly in front of the image plane and the other slightly behind it. A focus sensing circuit for each camera differentiates certain high frequency components of the video signal and then detects them and passes them through a low pass filter, to provide dc focus signal whose magnitudes represent the degree of focus. An error signal equal to the difference between the focus signals, drives a servo that moves the microscope objective so that an in-focus view is delivered to an image viewing/recording camera.
Mansour, M. N.↗
Aircraft landing control system
Upon aircraft landing approach, flare path command signals of altitude, vertical velocity and vertical acceleration are generated as functions of aircraft position and velocity with respect to the ground. The command signals are compared with corresponding actual values to generate error signals which are used to control the flight path.
Lambregts, Antonius A.↗
Model reference adaptive control using only input and output signals
It is shown how globally stable model reference adaptive control systems may be designed using only the plant's input and output signals. Controllers for single input-single output, nonlinear, nonautonomous plants are developed based on Liapunov's direct method and the Meyer-Kalman-Yacubovich lemma. Filtered derivatives of the plant output replace pure derivatives which are normally required in these systems. An augmented error signal replaces the error previously used which is the difference between the model and plant outputs. However, global stability is assured in the sense that this difference approaches zero asymptotically.
Monopoli, R. V.↗
Ultrasonic biomedical measuring and recording apparatus
A train of ultrasonic pulses is beamed into the body of an animal. Organs intercepted by the beam reflect echo pulses following each transmitted pulse. An electronic gate with a variable width and a variable time delay relative to the transmitted pulse is utilized for selecting echoes derived from other organs or portions of organs. The integral of the echo signals received within the first half of the gate period is subtracted from a corresponding integral of the echo signal received during the second half of the gate to derive an error signal for controlling the time delay of the gate. In this manner, the selected echo signal is always maintained in the center of the gate.
Lee, R. D.↗
Decision feedback loop for tracking a polyphase modulated carrier
A multiple phase modulated carrier tracking loop for use in a frequency shift keying system is described in which carrier tracking efficiency is improved by making use of the decision signals made on the data phase transmitted in each T-second interval. The decision signal is used to produce a pair of decision-feedback quadrature signals for enhancing the loop's performance in developing a loop phase error signal.
Simon, M. K.↗
Baseband signal combiner for large aperture antenna array
The invention provides a means whereby the baseband output signals of all but one of the receivers associated with each of the antennas are summed and used as a correlation reference for the baseband signal not contained in the summed signal, thereby providing a plurality of correlation or alignment loops, each having an output signal related to the phase difference between its input baseband signal and the summed signal. The invention further provides a means for subtracting an output or error signal generated in one of the correlation loops whose baseband signal has a predetermined phase delay from all the other alignment loops, thereby avoiding interaction and reflection effects in the signal combiner. A variable phase delay means for each of the other baseband signals is controlled by its corresponding correlation loop.
Easterling, M. E.↗
Comparison of thruster configurations in attitude control systems
Several aspects concerning reaction control jet systems as used to govern the attitude of a spacecraft were considered. A thruster configuration currently in use was compared to several new configurations developed in this study. The method of determining the error signals which control the firing of the thrusters was also investigated. The current error determination procedure is explained and a new method is presented. Both of these procedures are applied to each of the thruster configurations which are developed and comparisons of the two methods are made.
Boland, J. S., III↗